Monday, July 29, 2013

Hey guys! Things are
really good! The first baptism was really good! She was happy and the
baptism went smoothly:) Elder Chung did the baptism, and it was his very last
one of his mission! It was terribly sad to leave my first companion...
this morning was way difficult. We got along so well and had a good
relationship with the people here! But life and the mission moves
on! My new companion is Elder Chinga from Ecuador. He is awesome! He was our zone leader before this transfer and I knew him pretty well so it's not just a random new person that I have to try and develop a relationship with! And
yes, I get to stay here in San Felipe! It's become my second home :) It's really so nice! haha I love it here. The people are so nice and the
town is so peaceful and quiet! and I love the food! hahaha Yeah its so
true! Elder Chung was a cook before his mission and cooked us some really
amazing and big peruvian dishes!! Plus we have lunch every day with
members! I've learned very quickly to eat everything whether I like it or
not.. because after lunch there really isn't time to eat, so the more I can eat at
lunch the better I will feel during the day. I've leanred to love tomatoes
and different types of eggs and rice. They have rice with everything
here! If anyone can, you should sign up for a date to have
the missionaries of the area to have dinner or lunch with you!! I
know from experience how nice it is to have actual good, cooked food instead of having
to eat fast food every day.

Oh and a funny story! We were walking down the street the
other day and my companion tells me to contact this person that was walking
towards us! I started to talk to him about his family and work and
stuff.. but he was acting really weird. Finally at the end we asked if we could come by his house and talk with him some more and he was silent for a moment
and finally said, "ummm.. no I don't like to talk or share with North
Americans." It was silent for a moment, and finally my companion
responded and said "que racista!" (how/that's racist) and we walked away
hahahahaha it was hilarious! I wasn't quite sure what to do... good thing Elder Chung was there! But, yeah things are really good here and the
people and ward are doing great :)

Monday, July 22, 2013

The weather is crazy here! The last few days have been FREEZING!!!!!!! but we are managing and things are going really well! :) Having a latino companion and living with other latinos is really
discouraging sometimes... because they only have to focus on the
doctrine. I have to focus on the doctrine, learning the culture here,
learning about these people(where they live what they do what they like
to talk about their families, etc) Spanish( normal Spanish and Chilean Spanish). Lots of stuff! Haha, but it's cool and I really enjoy it :) y
si yo puedo hablar muy bueno en espanol. lo es muy facil actualmente. yo
tengo que hablar y pensar cada dia en solamente espanol entonces estoy
aprendiendo muy rapido. cuando hablo, yo puedo decir que you quiero
decir sin dificultades usualmente. :) But it is very hard to type in Spanish, so I'm going to type the rest in English for the sake of time. Next Monday
will be transfers so my companion will be heading home and I will be
receiving a new companion! My companion now believes that I will be
staying here in San Felipe and my new companion will move here with me! That would be kinda cool since I already know a lot of the people and the
bishopric and investigators! Plus I keep getting told how lucky I am
to start here in San Felipe because the Spanish is much slower and
easier to understand and learn! The work is going pretty good here! My Spanish is coming and I can speak pretty easily now. The words come
to mind really quickly but my accent and the conjugations are not
always correct... but it will come with time. I have a good study
routine that I have found that works really well. The people and other
missionaries keep telling me and Elder Dykstra that we are leagues ahead
of where missionaries usually are at this point in their missions. That's always a really good confidence booster!! We also have a baptism this Saturday for Myrian! My companion says I will be the one doing the baptism so that will be really cool! We did have noche hogar (family home evening) in the house of Cheril (Myriam's daughter) it was really cool. Lots of good food and
investigators of the other missionaries come which was also really
awesome! All in all things are going really well here and the
language and doctrine are coming along!

Fine Dining Companions!

Shrimp and mushroom ravioli and Arizona fruit soda on the back porch. Awesome!!!

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Things were pretty crazy this week! First I'll start off by talking
about my toe surgery! We arrived to the doctors office to find that
a lot of the doctors don't have the stuff that you need for your surgery
so they write you a list with their signatures and you go to the nearest
pharmacy and buy all the stuff yourself! Haha it's pretty funny... but
we bought the numbing medicine, the needles and syringe and the
cleaning medicine and returned. He injected my toe in 2 places with the
numbing medicine and then started to pull the nail out of my skin
(only the right side or part of it, not the whole nail, but it was the
part that was stuck in my skin). Let's just say that the numbing
medicine was HORRIBLE and I could feel everything except just a little
less that normal. It was terrible... but he cut the right side of
the nail off and then wrapped it up and sent me home and I had to rest for
the next few days. The medical system is so
different here! The only really nice thing about it was the doctor who
did the surgery is our branch president! The bad thing about this is
that he is a heart doctor.. not a foot doctor! The more I think about
it the more I realize that he probably has never done this before and
never studied or anything to do this! Crazy! We also had zone conference this
week which was pretty awesome!! Really long, but really helpful :) The work is awesome! We have 2 with a baptismal date! (Ximena and Myrian) Ximena is great and really wants to be baptized but .... smokes alot!!! We have been trying to help her to quit but its really
difficult. The other day we bought nicotine gum for her (which is
freaking expensive here!) and made this little cigarette case with
pictures of Jesus and scriptures and such haha its pretty cool! Hopefully this will help her! Next is Myrian. She is the mom of a
recent convert in the ward. In two weeks we will have companion changes.. I'm not sure what's going to
happen. I know I will be changed for sure because my companion will be
going home! But I might be staying here in San Felipe or headed to a
different sector... but I will be finding out soon! My last day here could be the 28th, which is the day that we have out baptisms!! All in all things are going really well here and I'm improving each and every day!

Monday, July 8, 2013

The internet is slow here and yeah the rats are
interesting... but funny! The exterminators came this week. You asked about how long my companion has been out? I am actually his last companion :) He goes home
the 28th of this month! The work
is pretty good! We have some progressing investigators right now. Myriam, Ximena,
Roman and Carol. They are all awesome and really fun to teach and we
have 2 baptisms the 28th of this month on our last day in this area :)
Thanks for sending me the books! It's annoying how the
mail works so slow here. I still haven't recieved the package with my
drivers license in it. It's been a good month or more for that stupid
package. Thanks for sharing that information from the lesson last Sunday. I've really been struggling with confidence this past week and that was
exactly what I needed to hear! Another prayer answered :) I have an ingrown toe nail that is really infected and hurts when I walk for a while. So I had to be on antibiotics and inflammatory medicine along with this cream stuff! Today I ahve to have the nail cut out! I might only be here for one transfer and this is the last area of my companion, so not sure what's going to happen... things will be fine!

Monday, July 1, 2013

Things are awesome here! The weather is a good mix between cold and
warm, but I'm getting used to it so I don't really notice it anymore.... The days are crazy! We get up at 7:30
in the morning, exercise and then have an hour to shower and have
breakfast and get changed. After that we have personal study for 1 hour,
then companion for about an hour and a half to 2 hours, then language
study, then after that we head to a members house every single day for
lunch, then out to work! We usually have between 2 to 4 scheduled
lessons a day and then just contacting and knocking doors! We have 2
areas, the first is is San Felipe, and the second is out even further in
the farm country. The town is called El Llano! It's way cool but it
is ALOT of walking, and the work is good but hard! Somedays we will
knock the doors of an entire street and not have a single person answer,
and other days we will be invited in or be able to schedule appointments
for others days with entire streets. It's really hit or miss! But the
lessons are good and my companion pushes me really hard to improve. We will be mid-lesson and he will just stop talking/teaching and just
look at me:) hahaha and he won't talk, so I have to! I hated it at
first... but now I really like it and it's getting to the point where I will interrupt and say things on my own!! I use Grandpa's coat almost every single day :) it fits perfect and keeps
me really warm! This week was crazy because we have giant rats in our
house that keep eating our food and sneaking into the house!! We had
to throw away most of our food... and then deep clean the entire house
and order an exterminator for this next week! The creepy part about it
was the other night I was in the middle of my personal night prayer and
the other elders had just turned the music off and started to do the
same and then we kept hearing these squeaking noises.... we all finished
our prayers and continued to listen to them and looking at each other
like what in the world! We listened closely and heard at least 5 or more rats
running around in the ceiling just above all of our beds! It was
gross but pretty awesome too! By the way, I bought
a new back pack and a soccer jersey to match my companion! It's for the
soccer team Colo Colo. Haha it's white and pretty sweet! But things are really good here!

*If sending a package do NOT use Fed-Ex, UPS, or DHL because Jordan will have to pay an additional fee to pick up the package. Always use USPS padded envelopes or a Priority Mail box. Packages usually take about 8 days to arrive.

You can also send a letter for free through the site below. Just click on "Write a missionary" and then click "Chile Santiago North" and follow the instructions.